Work Your Dream

Innocent until proven guilty….this has been our country’s mantra every since I can remember that is until lately. In the past few years it has become guilty by mainstream media or by social media. They post things they have no proof on hoping that the gullible will believe it. When they post things like “an anonymous source”, “Appears to be”, “Probably”, etc, then they really do not have the proof or know for a fact.

And the sad thing to me is that our young people have not been taught that people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The number of different accusations I see on people in general on social media is astounding. I would hate to be accused of something and have to go to a jury trial because I do not believe many people should be put on a jury for they convict based on emotion and not facts.

People have been put in prison because the media printed articles that were not true. So many of the mainstream media have sold their souls to the devil because they would rather lie just to get rid of the person they do not like. I find that reprehensible. What has happened to truth and honesty and looking for real facts not what someone on the internet or in a news cast tells you what they believe is the truth.

I have seen families torn apart because social media judged them publicly when they were innocent and families split, spouses left and lives were destroyed. And even when the truth came out, the damage could not be mended.

I ask you all to pretend you are on a jury when you read all the garbage on the mainstream media and on social media and ask yourselves as you read “Do I see facts in here?” “Have they submitted evidence?” and try to decide for yourself if what you are being fed by the mainstream media or even by all the people on social media is the truth. Remember that one day this could be YOU on that side where you are being tried, convicted and sentenced for something you did not so and would you not want “Innocent until proven guilty” to prevail?

(PS…sorry for the absence. A lot of medical going on and seeing specialists because my primary asked me to in order to see if anything could help this extreme pain. And the answers were the same: no surgery because I could not make it through it and extreme damage. So, I have had to rest a lot because on top of it all I had a disc rupture. Thanks for caring and I am still fighting upward. 🙂

I have written on hate before but today when I read through all the news headlines, it struck me that both HATE and VENGEANCE have become the new norm. Not only is hate becoming more normal so is going after people, trying to destroy them and close any business they have. Automatically turning to hate, vengeance and vigilante justice is becoming the norm and increasing over the past few years.

I just want to point out some things that people need to think of before they try to destroy someone just because you do not like what they said or did. Right now there is a “fire Colbert campaign” going on because he made a homophobic Trump insult. I do not agree with that kind of talk but seriously people have gotten ridiculous using social media to ruin people. I am totally against what he said but to try to stop him from having a job because of what he said is called censorship. Remember that thing called freedom of speech? I agree with making complaints against it to the station and asking for something to be done but I do not agree with trying to destroy a person because they do not agree with you. What he said was insulting, ugly, hurtful and should not have been said but it was not illegal.

People try to close businesses because they did not do what they wanted never once thinking about all the employees that need that job to support themselves and their families. It is vigilante justice without thinking of consequences and I have to wonder what age people are promoting these campaigns. See, it is teens and tweens that do not have the skills to see the consequences of their actions and many of them get on the bandwagon on these things because it feels powerful to them. Whether people like it or not, we do still have freedom of speech but it comes with consequences for everyone including those propagating all the hate and vengeance.

Hate and revenge are rampant. You want to affect Colbert, stop watching his show. The less people who watch makes an impact on the show and the station. I have seen such behavior as this in the past few years on smaller scales and now on huge scales. Oh yes, let’s destroy Ivanka Trump’s clothing industry because you hate Trump. What about the people who depend on that income to live? Or, destroy Chick-fil-A because they do not agree with LGBT beliefs. Lets go to smaller incidences like the children bullied because they were different or did not agree with what you believe and were bullied to the point they committed suicide. Where does it stop? What will you do when someone decides they hate YOU and want to destroy you? With the way things are going it can happen at any time.

I believe in standing up for what is right but I also believe in doing it the right way. If you are against a company for legitimate reasons, stop buying from them. If you are against a restaurant, stop eating there. Just use common sense and do not let your hate and vengeance be something that destroys a lot of innocent people. As I watch all the name calling, hate, attempts to destroy others, etc on social media and in the news, I just feel sick in the pit of my stomach. I can not nor will I live my life hating. If I am against something going on in the government, I will make it known, write letters, sign petitions etc but I will not try to destroy everyone.

If I do not like certain famous people or their shows, I will stop watching them for watching them is supporting them. If I do not like certain vloggers like the couple who just had two children removed because of their treatment of their children on the vlogs, I will report it and I will never watch it. But, I will never try to destroy someone and destroy innocent people in the process. Hate only creates more hate and mob mentality destroys people.

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Boundaries are important to make your life more peaceful. Some people do not know how to set boundaries and others do not know how to use boundaries. The difference in that those two things is that some people have not set any boundaries so people intrude on their lives all the time. And other people just do not follow boundaries and are constantly intruding on the lives of others.

I had to learn how to set boundaries and learn how to say no. It is alright to say no when someone wants you to do something. Yes, they might get mad for a bit but they will get over it and if they do not get over it, they were not a friend to begin with but rather someone used to using others. Have you ever agreed to do something say like be in charge of an event that you really had no interest in and really did not have the time to do and then came home mad at yourself for saying yes? And then you felt resentful about having to do it? That is a sign we need boundaries and need to stick to them.

Decide what is right for you not to please everyone else but to please yourself. If you do not want to go somewhere, go on a girl or guy’s night out, babysit for someone, take over someone’s shift, lend money, etc, then learn how to say no. Do not make excuses cause you will get trapped in them. Just say no. Yes, some will try to guilt you but trust me when I say it is far better to come home after saying no than it is to come home and be angry with yourself and resent what you are going to be doing.

And this little part here is for those that think they “have the right” as so many put it to say or do what they want. Yes, that is true but when you step on our rights to not be bothered, you are crossing a line. Some people need to learn respect for others and sometimes we have to be the one to teach them. So, please…set boundaries and stick to them so that the ones with no boundaries do not run over you.

This topic was prompted by what I have read on social media. My first reaction is to say “What the H is wrong with people.” but I realize that will not get the message out there. So, if you are so filled with hate over this election that you can not think clearly, have trouble sleeping from it, and all you want to do is call anyone on the other side names, this is not the article for you. Or maybe it is.

I have seen people on social media saying they have removed their family and friends from their social media and their phones and will never speak to them again. Pretty drastic to do that. The day a person’s political views are more important than their family and friends is a sad day indeed. Politics will change as it always does. But your family and loved ones are always here.

I think the irony of these statements by people is that they are striking at the very core of what our country is based on: Freedom of speech and freedom to choose. These people are the very ones that scream “I have freedom of speech!” if someone tells them to hush but they are doing that to their family and loved ones and to anyone around them. And yet they do not see the irony of what they are doing.

I remember days where politics were discussed and people did not have to agree with what one side said or the other. People could discuss without going into rages and attacking people. People could disagree and would even say “we will just have to disagree on that” and go on. The past few years all that has changed and people are being attacked, name called, etc for their views on politics and even on religion. And some people are trying to silence those who do not agree with them. Is that not violating my freedom of speech if I disagree with you and you try to silence me? And the answer is YES it does. Also some people have been taught if they scream the loudest they can drown you out. It feels like high school all over again.

Now back to the family and friends being banned by people. I have to wonder if that is what these people really want is to lose their family and friends unless they agree with them? It would seem that way. I only can say this….be careful who you put out of your life for they may never allow you to come back into theirs again once you get what you want and get those in power you want. They may say enough. I find it shameful that politics are more important than family or even dear friends. Our values have been corrupted.

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Ever since Core Curriculum entered our schools, I have been concerned. And as I watched the past couple of years and saw what was happening to our children, I became more and more concerned.

I was a teacher for many years and I know that children learn in different ways. I am not adverse to different methods of learning. I am against forcing one style of learning on all children. I will use math for an example.

My son could do math problems Junior High and up without showing any work, which of course teachers want to see to see that you really knew what you were doing. He just accomplished things in a different way than other kids. But, I most certainly did not force all my kids to do like he did.

We have to know our kids in our classrooms and pay attention to how they learn and what gives them the skills to do the work. I have watched our little school here struggle and more and more kids were dropping out of school because they could not do Core Curriculum math like they wanted and their parents did not understand it either. And our school is in jeopardy of being closed and turned into a private school.

Bill Gates spend a lot of money and I mean a lot pushing the Core Curriculum into our schools and I asked myself why? Was it to create more revenue for computer devices as the schools are going book-less many of them and using tablets only?

When I taught school much was memorizing and teaching what it meant but they do not do that anymore. Many children do not even know the multiplication tables. I feel like Core Curriculum has taken our children down instead of up. And my prayer is they remove it from all the school and go back to standard learning before it is too late for our children.

Keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion..mine. I know many feel as I do as I have talked to parents and teachers. The teachers that seem to love it are the ones just out of college that said they were told they could do anything in their classroom as long as they agreed to core curriculum. And they said they loved it and loved having a planning period (wow never had one when I taught) and could even put their class in another teacher’s classroom if they needed a break and the other teacher could do the same.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Core Curriculum in the coming year.

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I am a person of faith between me and my creator. I have said for a long time that I am not an advocate of organized religion for they become man-made organizations. If you read the gospels, you will find that Jesus did not send his disciples out to build big churches. He sent them out to spread the gospel and in turn create more disciples. He also warned his disciples going out not to call themselves Rabbi (or a title) for they were all “just brethren”.

I see so many churches with all these rules and regulations and talking about pastoral authority. But if you read Jesus words you will find that he says to not elevate themselves and that they are as low as the lowest person they talk to. I truly believe this is where man inserts themselves in the word of God when they make up all these rules and insist women are below man, etc. I have personal beliefs on what I do and do not accept or believe in but those are mine and it is not my job to force others to believe how I do..

Now, I go to a tiny church but I do not advocate all the things the pastor says because it goes against what I have learned. But, it is also part of enjoying fellowship with other believers. This little church is a tiny one room church. A lot of what we do is study the Bible which is what we are supposed to do. I do not call myself a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc. I just call myself a follower of Christ. I do not believe in forcing my beliefs on others and I do not believe in judging others. And I do not argue with people over “Religion”. That to me is forcing “man’s view” on others. I would rather just tell them if they want to hear about how God has affected my life.

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Activist or stumbling block? Which one are you? I have thought about this for a long time. I believe in being active in your beliefs, in peaceful marches, peaceful protests and everything else that is legal to try to make changes in our country. Sadly, a lot of what I see lately is just stumbling blocks and we need more than that for our country.

If you are going to protest, march, etc know why you are doing it, what you hope to accomplish, what do you have better to put in place. If someone just screams “do your job” over and over to stop any discussion then there is no thought to what they are doing. They have no better plan or any idea of what they are trying to accomplish.

As I have said before, I do not like parties and do not belong to either one. I am an American and I look at each politician individually and personally. I want to know what they voted for, what they have or have not done illegally and are they someone good for our country. As we all should know for it has been in the news, people from all parties have done things that are not good. You can not just say you will vote straight down the line for one party. You may be putting someone in office that is very bad for our country.

If you have no plans of what would be better to put in place, if you have no direction and are just resisting to resist, then you are doing futile work. In fact, I will be so bold as to say that many of the ones doing all the fussing, arguing, resisting are accomplishing something that they do not want of the next election. They are turning people to the other side.

Really passionate activists know why they are protesting and it is not just because their party did not win. They know what they hope to accomplish, they know what and why they are resisting and they are not filled with hate and anger. I so wish some of these hate filled protestors, activists, marchers etc would take the time to sit quietly and research what they want, why they want it and what would be better. Then people might listen more.

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I am deeply concerned and saddened because every day I see on a page on FB that I follow called “Find the Missing”, children, mostly young girls between 11 and 17 who are missing. Some have run away thinking that they are smart enough to handle what may come and some abducted.

We all know there are pedophile rings out there and I have begun to believe they are working overtime to get these children. I recently watched on Dr. Phil his show on children being abducted by the sex trade. What this young girl told happened to her made me literally sick to my stomach. She was terrified Dr. Phil would send her back which of course he had no intentions of doing.

I believe that parents have got to teach their children the dangers out there in the world. Social media and fancy cell phones have made it easier and easier for children to be abducted. We as parents need to be moderating these phones, putting trackers on these phones and checking behind our kids. The world is no longer safe for people and especially for our children who are not old enough to see the danger in what they do.

We are not their “best friend” or their “buddy”. We are their parent and with that comes the responsibility to make sure our kids are safe, are taught well and have the tools to avoid some of these situations.

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I have seen so much hatred, so much desire to want to destroy our government and our country and so much ugliness and it makes me very sad.

IF and I say IF our country gets destroyed, it will not be by Republican or Democrats. It will be from hate. Hate is such a destructive emotion and damages not only those around someone who is filled with hate but also destroys the very heart of the person hating.

People who are consumed with hate lose perspective. They lose the ability to reason rationally and do things that jeopardize not only themselves but their jobs. They say and do things because they want to get even with whomever they are hating.

Those hating are trying to stop people from having their own opinions. If you do not agree, you get called names like racist, etc. Those hating lose sight of the fact that our country is based on freedom and I totally support peaceful protests, peaceful marches, and other ways of peacefully getting their opinion across. But I do not condone those who destroy businesses, homes, cars, injure other people and spew hatred at them.

I believe we start where we are at trying to bring peace and reason to our little corner of the world. I do not have to agree with you for us to be friends. I just have to treat you with kindness. Someone who has a different opinion than me does not destroy my opinion. It does not threaten it. So, why would I need to react with such hatred?

I know there are many out there who feel like I do and do not want hatred to destroy our country or even the world. People just have to recognize what hatred is doing.

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Due to some drastic health changes, my blog is going to change. I have spinal cord problems along with all my other health issues and being told surgery would make me paralyzed from the waist down and not having it, I will end up that way anyway, I decided to not have the surgery. But, it has drastically affected my life. I can not sit long, lay long, stand long without extreme pain. There are some other issues but I am not going to go into them. Just letting you know why the change.

I am going to be doing small posts called Simply danLrene’s Opinion. It may be a paragraph on something in the news, something that strikes my opinion, something I see or hear. Just whatever. If anyone has any ideas you can send them to me. If you are wanting to troll and write hate comments or argue, remember this is just my opinion. Everyone does not think the same and everyone has the right to their opinion. If you decide to attack, hate, etc, your comment will never reach my blog as I filter all of them. I ask people to just be kind.

About danLrene

And now I can add author to that list for my first book has been published and is on Amazon for sale now. Here is the link: My First Book Published

If you want it real….read my blog. If you want all fou fou and fluffy sweet..it is not here. 🙂

danLrene is a quirky, funny, eclectic, happy, compassionate, caring, hippy, country girl and most of all a God-loving person who just also happens to be a writer, a poet, a photographer, an artist, the queen of bed dancing, hairbrush singer extraordinaire, once a cook..now the taste tester, once a gardener and now a gardening adviser and the keeper of danLrene older than dirt wisdom.

My goal is to have people see me and think “I want what she has that makes her so happy”. Happiness is a choice..a daily choice. We are either survivors or we are victims. I am a survivor. Survivors focus on the solutions and ways to have a better life while victims are still talking about all the problems.

I will not lie and tell you life is all roses because it is not. Some days I can not move and lay on this bed in agony and some days I am able to sit in my power chair for a little while. But no matter what kind of day, I look for something good to focus on whether it is my dreams, my daisy, my son who is so good at taking care of me, my other son and DIL and my Sweetpea, my family, my friends on line…no matter what..there is always something good to find in life if you look hard enough. Just remember it is how you think that determines what life is like.

“If you think you can or you think you can not, you will be right.”

I will be 67 this May of 2016. Life has been a journey of health issues since before I was 31 . I have a warrior attitude. Being a warrior does not mean you always win. It means you never quit trying. Life is what you make it and I choose to make mine as happy as possible no matter where I am in life.

I am blessed in that my oldest son is my caretaker and a great one at that. He has given up much to take care of me. He is an awesome caretaker and is always looking for ways to make life easier for me. I truly am thankful for his care. He is writing a book talking about “My Mother’s Keeper”..and I think it is going to be wonderful for so many are having to take care of their parents today.

My name is not chronic illness or disability. Can you really see me or do you see my health? I hope you see me and my spirit.

Our baby Daisy. Daisy came to us from a dear friend after our Jack, as so many of you called “Wonder Dog” because of his blue cape, walked on to the next world. And Daisy is such a joy and makes us smile and laugh.

Son and Daisy

My one room world from my hospital bed-it is filled with warmth and love from so many. Son designed my “Command Central” as he calls it. It is a long narrow table by my bed with a little flip down desk where I can sit on the edge of the bed and eat or I can sit up and type if I want to but I am “tummy typer supreme” as son calls it and many wonder how I type laying down like I do. Necessity is the mother of invention. My room looks into the kitchen where I can see son puttering around cooking as he is master of the kitchen now. 🙂

I still dream of going back to Italy, of us having one of those shuttle buses with a lift for my chair that son can convert into a motor home for us to make it easier when I have to go to Denver for surgeries and stuff. I still dream of learning how to tap dance…yes even on these crutches or laying on my hospital bed, just so I can say I did. All I need are a pair of size 11 tap shoes and a board at the foot of my bed. I dream of many things.

image from facebookemoticons123.blogspot.com

Ever since I was a little girl, I was told I was a dreamer. I can remember report cards with “day dreams” written on it. I think dreams are what keep us going. Without dreams…we have no hope. I dream of many things and I dream for many of you.

Follow Your Dreams, The Siren Called Out To Me

As I closed my eyes and fell deep into lovely sleep. The dream siren called me with a promise to keep

I closed my eyes and looked deep in my soul I could feel the wind blowing…it was so very cold

My dreams I had carried through year after year They will never come true was my biggest fear

Wandering up one lane and down another Remembering my dream since I became a mother

Land, open land and a place to be free A small house to live in with a big evergreen tree

We mounted the buckboard with all we owned inside And started over the mountain on this crazy dream ride

We felt like pioneers racing to the finish line for land And the whole time we knew -The Lord had our hand

So do not be afraid to dream your dreams and try Life is too short…open your wings up and fly

Dream I say and work the dream hard as you can For it will be the best race that you ever ran.

We all have dreams of what we want out of life. I remember Laverne on Laverne and Shirley saying her dream was to have a purple cashmere sweater. Well, our dream is to own land in the country and have a simple life style unencumbered by so much of what is in the world today. We have accomplished that dream in that we live on the outskirts of small town America in a much smaller and compact house but it has all we need: a cottage that visitors say they love because it is so serene here.

I love to write and have written for years. And hopefully will continue to write for many more years. This blog is about our journey getting here, our life after we reached the promised land and different middle of the night ramblings, posts to inspire others to keep fighting and keep living. Dreams are like cooking…we might get our grandparents old recipes, but we tend to alter them to suit ourselves. But, dream we must…for as long as we have hope in life…we have dreams. And even plain ole everyday people get dreams that come true. 🙂

I hope you enjoy and will subscribe and share my journey. Come join us at the foothills of the mountains where we have found a life of simplicity and serenity, in spite of all the health trials of one disabled woman and the courage of a son that chose to take care of her.